BILL NUMBER: AB 2161 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hancock
FEBRUARY 21, 2006
An act to add Section 16519 to the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to public social services, and making an appropriation
therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2161, as introduced, Hancock Child welfare services: resource
family pilot program.
Existing law requires the placement of dependent children by the
juvenile court according to specified procedures. Existing law
requires the state, through the State Department of Social Services
and county welfare departments, to establish and support a system of
statewide child welfare, which includes services related to foster
care placement of dependent children and adoption. Existing law
provides for the licensure of foster care providers, and the approval
of adoptive parents.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services,
in consultation with county welfare agencies, to develop and
implement a pilot program to establish a unified resource family
approval process to replace the existing multiple processes for
licensing foster family homes, approving relatives and nonrelated
extended family members as foster care providers, and approving
adoptive families, as provided in the bill. The bill would define a
resource family for its purposes as an individual or couple that a
participating county has approved to care for a related or unrelated
child who is under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court or
otherwise in the care of a county child welfare agency.
This bill would require the pilot program to be conducted in up to
5 counties that volunteer to participate. It would authorize the
pilot program to continue through the 2009-10 fiscal year, or for 3
full fiscal years following the receipt of funding for the program,
whichever is later.
Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent
Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide
payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in
foster care. The program is funded by a combination of federal,
state, and county funds, with moneys from the General Fund being
continuously appropriated to pay for the state's share of AFDC-FC
costs. Existing law requires that a child be in one of 7 designated
placements in order to be eligible for AFDC-FC.
This bill also would require a child placed in a resource family
home to be eligible for AFDC-FC. By expanding eligibility standards
for AFDC-FC benefits, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill
would provide that a resource family be paid a specified AFDC-FC
rate, and would apply existing sharing ratios for state financial
participation.
This bill would make its implementation contingent upon the
continued availability of federal funds for costs associated with the
placement of children with resource families as provided in the
bill.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 16519 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
16519. (a) The State Department of Social Services, in
consultation with county child welfare agencies, foster parent
associations, and other interested community parties, shall develop
and implement a pilot program to establish a unified, family
friendly, and child-centered resource family approval process to
replace the existing multiple processes for licensing foster family
homes, approving relatives and nonrelated extended family members as
foster care providers, and approving adoptive families.
(b) (1) Up to five counties shall be selected to participate on a
voluntary basis in the pilot program, according to criteria developed
by the department in consultation with the County Welfare Directors
Association.
(2) Prior to implementing the pilot program, the department shall
establish standards for a unified home approval and permanency
assessment of a resource family, and the requirements for placement
in a resource family.
(c) (1) For the purposes of this section, "resource family" means
an individual or couple that a participating county has approved to
care for a related or unrelated child who is under the jurisdiction
of the juvenile court, or otherwise in the care of a county child
welfare agency.
(2) Subsequent to approval, a resource family shall be considered
eligible to provide foster care for related and unrelated children in
out-of-home placement, shall be considered approved as an adoptive
family, and shall not have to undergo any additional approval or
licensure as long as the family lives in a county participating in
the pilot program.
(3) Resource family assessment and approval means that the
applicant meets the standard for home approval, and has successfully
completed a permanency assessment. This approval is in lieu of the
existing foster care license, relative or nonrelated extended family
member approval, and the adoption home study approval.
(4) Approval of a resource family does not guarantee an initial or
continued placement of a child with a resource family.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that all of the following
shall occur as a result of the pilot program:
(1) The pilot program shall improve safety, permanency, and
well-being for children in the child welfare system, consistent with
the federal child welfare outcomes and the Child Welfare System
Improvement and Accountability Act of 2001 (Chapter 678 of the
Statutes of 2001), by enabling families to become licensed or
approved foster parents, and also be approved as adoptive parents,
via a single process, rather than the existing multiple steps that
are required.
(2) The assessment and preparation of resource families caring for
children in out-of-home placement shall enhance the safety and
protection of children, be family focused and neighborhood-based,
promote timely reunification, adoption, or guardianship for children
with suitable families, and seek to minimize the number of placement
changes for children.
(3) A resource family shall honor the child's natural connections
and promote the goal that the best interests of the foster child
remain the central focus during the placement and decisionmaking
processes.
(4) The pilot program shall include effective system oversight and
accountability, and shall provide appropriate due process procedures
for resource families.
(5) A resource family shall meet the single home approval and
permanency assessment standard, regardless of the child's case plan
goal, or the resource family's long-term care provision goals.
(e) Implementation of the pilot program shall be contingent upon
the continued availability of federal Social Security Act Title IV-E
(42 U.S.C. Sec. 670) funds for costs associated with placement of
children with resource families assessed and approved under the
program.
(f) Notwithstanding Section 11402, a child placed with a resource
family shall be eligible for AFDC-FC payments. A resource family
shall be paid an AFDC-FC rate pursuant to Sections 11460 and 11461.
Sharing ratios for nonfederal expenditures for all costs associated
with activities related to the approval of relatives and nonrelated
extended family members shall be in accordance with Section 10101.
(g) The pilot program shall be authorized to continue through the
end of the 2009-10 fiscal year, or through the end of the third full
fiscal year following the date that funds are made available for its
implementation, whichever of these dates is later.